Device for the protective charging of case-less cartridges

ABSTRACT

A device for simplifying the handling of case-less cartridges, said device comprising a cassette composed of two halves made of frangible or fragile material and forming a compartment for each cartridge, said cassette when completely filled with new cartridges being pushed down into a magazine by means of an auxiliary guiding frame or cover that has resilient means for advancing the cassette. The compartment has walls which include wedge-like cartridge shoulder-supporting means that convey to said walls a lateral force, breaking up or dividing each cassette compartment as the cartridge emerges from the magazine. Each cartridge is pushed under the action of an advancing cartridge seating means such as a breech block during firing procedure.

lJnited States Patent [1 [111 3,765,298 Wallberg Get. 116, W73

[54] DEVICE FOR THE PROTECTIVE 3,465,871 9/1969 Lyons 206/3 CH RG G 0 CASE LESS CARTRIDGES 3,046,842 7/1962 Bergay l02/D1G. l

Inventor: Eric W. Wallberg, Vallingby,

Sweden Assignee: Forenade Fabriksverken, Eskilstuna,

Sweden Filed: Nov. 10, 1971 Appl. N0.: 197,281

Foreign Application Priority Data Nov. 24, 1970 Sweden 15875/70 U.S. Cl 89/34, 89/35 A, 206/3, lOZ/DIG. 1

lint. Cl. E41c 25/00 Field of Search 206/3; 89/33 C, 34, 89/35 R, 35 A; 102/DIG. I

* References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 12/1971 Grawlick 102/DlG. l 6/1956 Bode 206/3 Primary ExaminerBenjamin A. Borchelt Assistant Examiner-J. V. Doramus Att0rneyEric Y. Munson et al.

[57] ABSTRACT A device for simplifying the handling of case-less cartridges, said device comprising a cassette composed of two halves made of frangible or fragile material and forming a compartment for each cartridge, said cassette when completely filled with new cartridges being pushed down into a magazine by means of an auxiliary guiding frame or cover that has resilient means for advancing the cassette. The compartment has walls which include wedge-like cartridge shouldersupporting means that convey to said walls a lateral force, breaking up or dividing each cassette compartment as the cartridge emerges from the magazine. Each cartridge is pushed under the action of an advancing cartridge seating means such as a breech block during firing procedure.

5 Claims, 2 Drawing Figures PATENTEU OCT 15 I973 FIG 2 DEVICE FOR THE PROTECTIVE CHARGING OF CASE-LESS CARTRIDGES The present invention relates to a plug-in magazine charger having cartridge feeding and seating facility for automatic guns of the kind that can use case-less ammunition.

In recent periods progress has been made in connection with a type of cartridge based on an old idea of directly attaching a projectile to a propelling charge without employing a cartridge case. During the operation of loading such cartridges into a magazine and producing them therefrom and to a barrel seat of a small calibre gun, special difficulties often arise since case-less cartridges are rather fragile and do not withstand the strain of normal feeding from a magazine followed by automatic breech block insertion. The problem therefore is to design a suitable magazine and a device for safe feeding, insertion and seating of such cartridges in the barrel end. Before one can proceed with the design of a new gun that fully takes care of the advantages of the case-less cartridge idea, one of such advantages being substantially lower munition cost, a satisfactory feeding and cartridge inserting device must be provided.

More particularly, the invention contamplates the provision of a cassette adapted for case-less cartridges and formed of two facially assembled blocks, each of which has semi-cylindrical grooves for co-operating in providing cylindrical chambers or compartments for the cartridges, said blocks being composed of a fragile or frangible manteral, the wall thickness of the deepest part of the grooves in each half being relatively thin and being such that the blocks are weakened at the sides and are separated or broken off when the breech block advancesa shoulder-type cartridge through one of the compartments. the walls of the compartments having supporting wedge-type heels that convey lateral breaking force to the walls around the cartridge.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawing, wherein an illustrative embodiment of the invention is shown and in which:

Fig. 1 shows an exploded view of a magazine plug-in cassette and FIG. 2 is a side view of a portion of a cassette showing some details of the same more clearly.

Referring to the drawing, there is shown therein a projectile 1 directly connected to a propelling charge 2 provided with a shoulder plate 2a in its front end and having a percussion cap 3 in its rear end. This cartridge is intended to be introduced and seated in a barrel 4 that is shown in dotted lines in FIG. 1. The cartridges are stored in a cassette that is composed of two block halves 5, each of said halves having a number of semicylindrical grooves 15 of such a depth that the walls become very thin around the deepest part8 of each of the grooves. The cassette is thus capable of being broken off at these weakened areas.

Provided in the upper half of each groove 15 is a small wedge-like heel or lug 10 that abuts against and forms a stop for the shoulder plate 2a on a cartridge, thus preventing the cartridge from being thrust forwardly during firing preparation. In order to prevent the spread of ignition fire between the cartridges in the cassette, the surfaces of the block halves that are in contact with one another, can be provided with a tongue and slit arrangement 6, 7. That is to say, one of the cassette halves is provided with the slits 6 and the other half has the tongues 7 that fit into the slits when the two halves of the cassette are facially placed together to form the required cylindrical chambers for the cartridges.

The cassette halves 5 are kept together by means of a cassette holder or frame 9 that is preferably composed of thin sheet steel or some other strong material. The frame 9 preferably has a U-shaped section with the result that the edges of the frame form a resilient champing grip around the cartridge-filled cassette. When the halves 5 have been cartridge-filled and the frame 9 has been clamped around the halves, each cassette can then be sprayed by a humidity protection lacquer coating or some similar protective means.

In using a filled cassette, the gunner removes the lacquer coating by ripping off a projecting tab that is provided for the purpose. The gunner then brings the framed package which includes the filled cassette to a magazine opening in the gun which has guiding grooves. He inserts the cassette fully down to the bottom of the magazine and he pulls away the then empty frame 9. The magazine spring (not shown) serves to advance the pack of loaded cartridges so that each cartridge in the top compartment is inserted into the barrel by the forward movement of the breech block. The shoulder plate 2a of the cartridge then drives the heels 10 sidewardly so that the walls of the compartment will fold outwardly and will break along the weakened lines in the deeper part of each groove such part being indicated at 8 in FIG. 1. In this manner each advancing cartridge is protected from damage all the way from the magazine storage up to the moment when it is inserted and is seated in the barrel end.

What is claimed is:

1. A cassette carrier for protectively carrying and positioning caseless cartridges for use in a weapon having a safe cartridge feeding mechanism and a breech block seating operator for said cartridges,

said cassette having a plurality of separate compartments, one for each cartridge, and comprising two co-fitting members of frangible material, each -member having a sequence of parallel closelyspaced semi-circular grooves, with the grooves of the two members facing and mating to define the separate compartments, and with each compartment serving to accommodate a cartridge having a front projectile connected to a propelling charge behind the projectile, with the charge provided with a shoulder plate of forwardly convergingly tapered conical shape at its front end, the forward end of each compartment wall at the upper forward edge in each groove being shaped to have a boss portion axially inclined forwardly and inwardly toward the axis of the compartment to serve as a stop to hold a cartridge against casual forward displacement, and said boss portion later serving as a wedge to generate a lateral force with a maximum halfdiameter moment arm relative to the line of the thin wall section at the bottom of its groove, when the cartridge is pressed forward to operating position by the breech block operator, whereby the front tapered shoulder plate of the cartridge will forcibly press the two boss portions as wedges on the related compartment walls to generate said lateral force on each said wall to fracture the upper portion of each said wall section, and to cause said upper portion of each said wall to be broken away at the top of the magazine to provide free space for the next following grooved walls of the succeeding compartment and its contained projectile.

2. A cassette device according to claim 1, wherein each of the two halves of the cassette that face one another has connecting walls between the grooved walls of adjacent cartridge compartments, said connecting walls being provided with suitable sealing barrier means consisting of tongues on one half cassette and slits on the other half cassette, in which the tongues fit into the facing slits to prevent the spread of ignition fire from one cartridge compartment to another in the eassette.

3. A cassette device according to claim 1, wherein the two halves of the cassette are held together temporarily as a package by a holding and loading frame that has a U-shaped cross section, said frame being temporarily fitted over one edge of the filled cartridge package, and said loading frame serving for pushing the cassette fully down into the bottom of the gun magazine, after which said frame is removed from the cassette and the magazine.

4. A cassette for holding a plurality of case-less cartridges comprising, a pair of grooved halves fitted together in facial relation so that the grooves therein cooperate in forming cylindrical, sequential parallel open-end cartridge compartments whose arcuate walls are connected by short wall sections, each compartment to receive a cartridge having a front shoulder, and each compartment wall being provided at its front end with a projection boss against which said shoulder on a cartridge abuts, one of the halves being provided with slits in the connecting wall sections between its grooves, the other half having tongues in the connecting wall sections between its grooves for entry into the slits when the two halves of the cassette are facially placed together, and both of the halves having weakened linear wall regions at the bottoms of their grooves for the separation of parts of the halves pressed by a cartridge shoulder when a cartridge is moved out of a groove.

5. A cassette device according to claim 4, including a protective cover for a cartridge-filled cassette, said cover comprising a channel-shaped member having parts fitting over the top and over a side of the filled cassette, with both halves fitted together, and the cover removable after insertion of the cassette to operation position. 

1. A cassette carrier for protectively carrying and positioning caseless cartridges for use in a weapon having a safe cartridge feeding mechanism and a breech block seating operator for said cartridges, said cassette having a plurality of separate compartments, one for each cartridge, and comprising two co-fitting members of frangible material, each member having a sequence of parallel closely-spaced semi-circular grooves, with the grooves of the two members facing and mating to define the separate compartments, and with each compartment serving to accommodate a cartridge having a front projectile connected to a propelling charge behind the projectile, with the charge provided with a shoulder plate of forwardly convergingly tapered conical shape at its front end, the forward end of each compartment wall at the upper forward edge in each groove being shaped to have a boss portion axially inclined forwardly and inwardly toward the axis of the compartment to serve as a stop to hold a cartridge against casual forward displacement, and said boss portion later serving as a wedge to generate a lateral force with a maximum half-diameter moment arm relative to the line of the thin wall section at the bottom of its groove, when the cartridge is pressed forward to operating position by the breech block operator, whereby the front tapered shoulder plate of the cartridge will forcibly press the two boss portions as wedges on the related compartment walls to generate said lateral force on each said wall to fracture the upper portion of each said wall section, and to cause said upper porTion of each said wall to be broken away at the top of the magazine to provide free space for the next following grooved walls of the succeeding compartment and its contained projectile.
 2. A cassette device according to claim 1, wherein each of the two halves of the cassette that face one another has connecting walls between the grooved walls of adjacent cartridge compartments, said connecting walls being provided with suitable sealing barrier means consisting of tongues on one half cassette and slits on the other half cassette, in which the tongues fit into the facing slits to prevent the spread of ignition fire from one cartridge compartment to another in the cassette.
 3. A cassette device according to claim 1, wherein the two halves of the cassette are held together temporarily as a package by a holding and loading frame that has a U-shaped cross section, said frame being temporarily fitted over one edge of the filled cartridge package, and said loading frame serving for pushing the cassette fully down into the bottom of the gun magazine, after which said frame is removed from the cassette and the magazine.
 4. A cassette for holding a plurality of case-less cartridges comprising, a pair of grooved halves fitted together in facial relation so that the grooves therein co-operate in forming cylindrical, sequential parallel open-end cartridge compartments whose arcuate walls are connected by short wall sections, each compartment to receive a cartridge having a front shoulder, and each compartment wall being provided at its front end with a projection boss against which said shoulder on a cartridge abuts, one of the halves being provided with slits in the connecting wall sections between its grooves, the other half having tongues in the connecting wall sections between its grooves for entry into the slits when the two halves of the cassette are facially placed together, and both of the halves having weakened linear wall regions at the bottoms of their grooves for the separation of parts of the halves pressed by a cartridge shoulder when a cartridge is moved out of a groove.
 5. A cassette device according to claim 4, including a protective cover for a cartridge-filled cassette, said cover comprising a channel-shaped member having parts fitting over the top and over a side of the filled cassette, with both halves fitted together, and the cover removable after insertion of the cassette to operation position. 